Wichita eagle., 1887-12-15
SUNDAY SCHOOL CONVENTION.

Sumed Its SlttIngS In the plymouth ConSre-
gational church Tuesday evening at 7:30, Mr..
J. G. Armstrong, of Arkansas City, pre-
siding. Devotional exercises having been
engaged in for half an hour, Rev. j. w.
Dorrance was called upon to read a paper
on Qualification of Teachers" left over
from the afternoon session owing to his
absence Mr.. Dorrance delivered a very
| appreciative address, describing the vari-
Gus qualifications necessary to suitable
and efficient Sabbath school teacher.
| In the voluntary discussion that fol-
| lowed, Revs. jackson, White and Cooper
took part.
| ''Helps, and How to Use Thena," had
been assigned Rev. d. T. Mustard as
subject upon which to read a
paper, but Mr.. NJ. being absent, it was
agreed that Rev. Shannon should address
the house on the subject.
! Mr.. S. in short extempore speech,
directed the convention to the proper use
of lesson helps, which. he held should only
be used in preparation of the lesson and
never in the class. The subject was
further ventilated by Rev. Whites, Graham,
Turnbill. Eadie and Shannon and Harnil-
ton Of the Presbyterian church.
This concluded the formal proceedings
of the evening" and DR.. White moved adj
journment till the following day at a. m.
Passed. Meeting was closed by the
benediction pronounced by Rev. Hamil-
ton.
| The convention met again Wednes-
day morning at $50 O'Clock
Rev E. C. Cooper, of Kingman, pre-
siding. After devotional exercise
the secretary was directed to make out
a complete list of the delegates attending
the convention. This was done, and
twenty-seven representatives from the diff
ferent Sabbath schools in the presbytery
were reported present.
First on the program was an address by
Rev. J. s. Turnbull on the subject ''Who
Should Constitute the Sabbath School. :"
Mr. T. in short address enunciated the
broad principle that every one should be IN
the Sabbath school, and that the Sabbath
| school should stand on an equal footing
with the church.
Mr.. J. G. Armstrong, attaching a differ
ent meaning to the word constitute"
said his idea was that the pastor
with his corps Of assistants should
'constitut," that is form or organize the
Sabbath school, but if the word meant as
interpreted by the previous speaker, of
whom was the Sabbath school composed?
| Then he held with Mr.. T. that all, every
one should be gathered in. Mr. Eadie fol
lowed with few remarks in the same
channel.
Dr. White said he was not in favor of
too much sessional superintency. He had
known Sabbath school killed by it; but
there should be united cooperation be-
tween the session superintendent and
teachers.
Rev. Wilson said there was one class he
was anxious to keep in the school; that
was those who are just coming into man
hood and womanhood. These should be
utilized for the good of the church and the
gloryof God They should be retained in
the Sabbath school.
Mr.. A. S. Thompson wished to
ask question, which was pre-
| supposed by the subject I'M
der discussion: ''Who should not
constitute the Sabbath school?" Revs.
Dorrance TurnbuH and DR.. White replied.
DIR. White said there were some peSky fell
lows-good Christians-whom he did not
want in the Sabbath school. except as
| learners, ana he would be inclined to put
them in a class by themselves NoOne was
in favor of shutting anyone out of the
school, but they should not occupy official
positions - their disposition precluded
that.
missionary work in the Sabbath SCHOOL,
was opened by Rev. E. d. Cooper. During
l.l. n .,DF+
pied the chair) Love for Christ and the
recovery of lost souls is the constraining
principles urging every Christian to mis-
sionary work. Imp0rtunate efforts to
bring in strangers to the fold should
prove TO the world that we are in ear
nest, and anxious for their souls salvation.
EChildren make good missionaries, and
should be enlisted in the work. Strangers
should be heartily welcomed into the Sab
bath school, and the school should be made
so interesting that they would be counting
the DAYS until the Sabbath would return
again.
Dr. Owens, who was present and intro
duced to the meeting, said he did not come
to Wichita to take part in the convention
but he came to do another phase of mis-
sionary work He wished to emphasize
the remark that the Sunday school was
not the church. 1t was simply one agency
10y which the church operated. II was a
very efficient agency and he said amen to
every word that had been uttered there
BY all means, gather in every man, woman
and child into the Sunday school. II
should be organized for missionary work
ii it is only organized for the pur
! Gathering
of United Presbyterians TO recite the
shorter Catechism, and study the word Of
God. then the sooner the school was abol
ished the better. The grand object of the
Sabbath school was missionary work. Let
US not mistake that the Sabbath school il
to take the place of the preaching of the
GOSPEL. Preaching the word is the great
God-giving agency for bringing souls tC
Christ, and its place cannot he taken by
the Sunday school or any other Christian
organization. The Sunday school is the
open door through which we can pass to al
most any achievement. He had always
felt that so long as he could hold the boys
and girls. he could hold the fathers and
mothers and find access to their hearts
The great work of the church Is
mission work, and the reason why
churches in this western country
are not growing better is because they are
not cultivating a missionary spirit. and
turning it to a practical use. DR.. White
said il is his experience that he had never
gone to one outside of the church, and met
with anything but a most cordial recep
ton. He believes that with a faithful use
of the means God had placed in our hand
II. L. l. Il